In recent years, it has become possible to drill and maintain increasingly complicated wellbores. In some cases, rather than drilling multiple vertical wells, it may be advantageous to drill relatively fewer vertical wells, but branch out from these vertical wells with a greater number of lateral wells. Hence, a primary wellbore with laterals branching out from it can provide the coverage desired of a downhole formation at less expense and time than would be needed to achieve the same coverage with multiple vertical wells. The savings in time and money, however, are accompanied by new challenges. Indeed, as the number of laterals branching from a primary wellbore increases, so too does the difficulty of locating and entering specific laterals.
One proposed solution involves the installation of special fixtures in the casing. The fixtures may be installed at the connection point between a lateral and the primary wellbore, thereby to allow for the landing of an intervention tool at the connection point. Another proposed technique involves a specialized downhole contraption, which includes an indexing tool, a kickover knuckle joint attached at the lower end of the indexing tool, and a wand attached at the lower end of the kickover knuckle joint. The contraption may be lowered into a primary wellbore at the end of coiled tubing. A user may tag the bottom of the primary wellbore in order to establish a maximum depth. Then, the contraption may be raised to the estimated location of a connection between a lateral wellbore and the primary wellbore. At that point, the kickover knuckle joint may be used to deflect the wand away from the longitudinal axis of the downhole contraption, and the contraption may be raised or lowered in the primary wellbore. To orient the contraption in the primary wellbore, the indexing tool may be used to rotate the wand relative to the coiled tubing. If a lateral is located, the tip of the wand may be fully bent into the lateral. When the wand is fully bent, pressurizing fluid in the downhole contraption may be vented, which can provide a surface indication to the user that a lateral wellbore has been located.